Arts

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic  At the back of Turnham Green tube station is one of those cultural gems that reaffirms your choice to live in the cramped, hectic and pricey urban sprawl that is London. The Tabard Theatre lies above the Tabard Pub in Chiswick and has developed a good reputation in its short history for new writing with in-house shows enjoying success on the West End and on the national circuit. On a chance Saturday...

By Thom James thomjames.info @thxmjames On July 24th, I became friends with most celebrated, controversial copycat poet of the last few decades, perhaps even history. And when I say ‘friends’, I actually mean that we became friends on Facebook. We had 16 mutual friends. That’s probably risen by one or two by now. Three if he’s lucky. I sent him an emoticon on chat. He read it an hour later. This is the kind of thing I do. I somehow come...

By Isla Watton and Holly Carter Guests were greeted at the Dominion Theatre on Wednesday night by a shower of fake snow pouring out of the front of the building. This festive display perfectly established the mood for the evening ahead. Set in the 1950s, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas follows the story of Phil Davis (Tom Chambers) and Bob Wallis (Aled Jones), two ex-army pals with a flair for putting on a good show, who now work as successful entertainers....

Mirrorcity – London Artists on Fiction and reality. By Isla Watton, Arts Reporter In early October a council painted over some allegedly racist graffiti. This standard procedure on the streets of Clacton-on-Sea hurled Tendring District Council into the national spotlight and set the fingers of arts critics and bloggers ablaze as it emerged that what had actually been removed was a satirical and valuable Banksy painting. Perhaps on this occasion fiction sat a little too close to home and some...

Jack Peat reviews Hold Your Own by Kate Tempest  Poetry is a multi-faceted literary tool that releases the human in us. It pulls at our heart strings, exposes our insecurities and showcases our inner self in the rawest way possible. I've watched some remarkable biographical films, read some wonderful autobiographies, memoirs and obituaries, but the transformations portrayed by Kate Tempest through the poetic eyes of a mythical character is the first account of a life I actually felt. Hold Your Own...

John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He even wrote a fairy tale. He loved to express the connection between nature, art and society. In the course of his deeply personal work, he developed the principles underlying his ideal society. Ruskin first came to widespread attention in defence of the work of J. M. W. Turner in which...

By Andy Irwin Septembers - the debut novel from Birmingham-born writer Christopher Prendergast - charts the experiences of Matt, a young history teacher, through an on-off relationship and unstable career in Sheffield and Birmingham via episodes in the life of Franz von Papen (vice-Chancellor of Germany in the early 1930s). The novel charts a period of downfall in Matt’s life, with insecurities and disasters that span the personal and the professional. Despite those themes, there is a pervasive tenderness throughout...

By Charlotte Stringer, Style Editor at STYLIGHT.co.uk Imagine there was no… John Lennon. Actually, it’s not so easy if you try. The former Beatle left an indelible mark on the world before he was assassinated in 1980, having written and performed some of the world’s best loved songs, both with The Beatles and after in his later solo career. But, as we all know, John Lennon wasn’t just a pop star or another musician who faded into obscurity after initial...

By Harry Bedford, Music Editor Elegance, swing, style and class, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has it all. The Savoy Theatre, adjacent to the prestigious Savoy Hotel, plays host to the musical that could quite easily become a West End classic. It is a show centred around two con men on the French Riviera, one older and English and the other younger and American. The two men may have very different personalities but they both have the same goal of extracting cash...